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U.S. Court of Appeals upholds standard to reduce soot, protect public health

May 9, 2014

Contact:

Sharyn Stein, 202-572-3396, sstein@edf.org

(Washington,
D.C. – May 9, 2014) A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for
the District of Columbia Circuit today unanimously
upheld a clean air standard designed to reduce the soot pollution that
leads to serious heart and lung diseases, and designed to improve air quality
monitoring that will strengthen clean air protections for major
cities. Environmental Defense Fund was a party to this case.

In
an opinion written by Judge Brett Kavanaugh, the court rejected legal
challenges to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) national
health-based standard for particulate matter, more commonly known as soot. The
Judges also rejected legal claims against EPA’s important program to locate air
quality monitors near highways in major cities.

“Here,
we can be brief: Petitioners simply have not identified any way in which EPA
jumped the rails of reasonableness in examining the science. EPA offered
reasoned explanations for how it approached and weighed the evidence, and why
the scientific evidence supported revision of the NAAQS.” (page 6 of the decision)

“The
national air quality standards for particulate pollution that were affirmed by
the court today provide a bedrock scientific foundation to ensure healthier
longer lives for our families,” said EDF attorney Peter Zalzal. “Soot is an
extremely dangerous, and sometimes deadly, pollutant that causes heart attacks
and asthma attacks. The sooner our nation can work together to reduce the
amount of particulate pollution in our air, the sooner those afflicted by this
dangerous pollutant can breathe easier.”

The
U.S. once had an annual standard for particulate matter of 15 micro grams per
cubic meter. Then new and compelling scientific evidence showed that
particulate matter could harm human health at that level, and even below it.

In
December of 2012, EPA strengthened the national annual standard for particulate
pollution to 12 micro grams per cubic meter – a health-based level consistent
with recommendations of the independent Clean Air Scientific Advisory
Committee.

The
National Association of Manufacturers, and the Utility Air Regulatory Group
(UARG) -- a coalition of large power companies and coal companies -- sued to
block these health-based air quality standards. A coalition of health and
environmental experts -- including the American Lung Association, Earthjustice,
Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club as well as Environmental
Defense Fund -- defended EPA’s stronger, more protective standard in
court.

This
February, Judges Kavanaugh, David Tatel and Janice Rogers Brown of the D.C.
Court of Appeals heard arguments in the case. Today all three ruled to uphold
the standard.

The
stronger, more protective particulate matter standard is just one step EPA has
taken recently to reduce dangerous air pollution. The D.C. Court of Appeals
upheld anotherthe Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, last month, and the U.S.
Supreme Court just ruled in favor of the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule.

Full
and immediate implementation of the Cross State Air Pollution Rule is one of
the single most important measures our nation can take to help address deadly
particulate pollution resulting from power plant smokestack emissions, and meet
the air quality standards upheld by the court today.

“Time
after time, courts have found that EPA’s clean air standards are solidly based
in science and the law,” said Zalzal. “This decision, like the ones before it,
will help us ensure longer and healthier lives for all Americans.”

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